Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Eve 2010

Good: Taking my ten-year-old BLUE RAV4 in for a free maintenance package check, tune-up, and oil change.Anxious: Telling the mechanics that one of the belts appears to be slipping.Not good: Being told that the belt is shredded and needs to be replaced ASAP.Not quite so bad: Being charged only for the new belt, not for the installation.Definitely bad: Being told that, when changing the belt, the mechanics have found that the tension-adjusting wheel is broken and jammed, a potentially serious situation that needs immediate correcting.A little less bad: Hearing that, again, I'll only be charged for the part, not for the service.Frustrating: Hearing that the additional repair work will take another half hour to finish.A little more frustrating: Remembering that mechanics last year warned me that the tension-adjusting wheel wasn't quite right and probably needed looking at.Irritating: Being told that, in order to replace the damaged tension-adjusting wheel, the mechanics have to remove a whole bunch of other stuff, including dismantling the ABS brake system.Hair-pullingly nasty: Being told that, because of all the extra work needed, getting everything done will probably take another hour or more.Agonizing: Having to sit and wait in the car shop lobby for a total of two and a half hours, wiping out almost all my final Christmas preparation plans.A little soothing: Being charged only for the part, not for the service, and given both a 30% discount and free gifts for my trouble.Amazing: Noticing that both my engine and my brakes are performing noticeably better than before while driving home.Nuts: Arriving home after all this, far later than planned, and finding both kids upset and the wife about to blow a gasket on account of the kids' bad habits. In other words, same old, same old.

About

I came to Japan in 1990 for what was supposed to be a two-year stint. Then, by some bizarre stroke of fate, I got a real life, so I'm still here. For a gaijin with an imagination and more than his share of sensitivity, these islands are a never-ending source of adventure.

About Me

I was born on a rainy day on the Oregon Coast (no surprises there) and through a rather convoluted sequence of events wound up in Japan. I'm a teacher by trade, moonlighting as a musician and composer. I also do quite a bit of writing on the side. I'm a dreamer, a thinker, a sayer, and a doer all wrapped in one deceptively mild-mannered package.